The Flightless Phoenix
by Punch A Fish In The Face
Summary: Undergoing reconstruction. At the end of The Boiling Rock, Ty Lee's indecision causes Azula's violent and bloody death by explosion, a process called Chi Combustion. Ozai is grief-stricken, and banishes Mai and Ty Lee, who join the Gaang. Ozai discards his plan to become Phoenix King. Meanwhile, in the Spirit World, Azula reflects on her life. Canon pairings, Jetzula, and others.


A/N  
>I am inspired (by Alabaster86 and various others) to write a story where I completely obliterate the canon in a what-if. This is it.<br>I don't necessarily _need_ reviews to live, but they make me happy because someone took time out of their day to say something, lke I took time out of my day to write. I am dangerously close to completing every side-quest in Final Fantasy XII, and I have yet to watch the endgame cutscenes. Just so you know what I could be doing right now.  
>If you've guessed what the story's title means, don't ruin it yet!<br>Apologies to jakxkeiraaddict, Yue Twili, various Zuki shippers, and Western fans, and Modern-Day AU fans, but this is taking priority for right now. I will eventually finish every story (unless I die in 2012). And now… The Flightless Phoenix*!  
>End AN  
>*Not in the Pharos. He's going down.<p>

X The Boiling Rock X

'I guess you don't know people as well as you think you do.'

Mai, what are you doing! You can't talk back to Azula like that! Oh, she's in so much trouble, I hope her Uncle can get her out of this mess. Please, please, PLEASE don't do anything else stupid!

'You miscalculated. I love Zuko…'

Oh no…

'More than I fear you.'

Eep. I can see the anger building on Azula's face. The guards won't be able to get here in time to stop anything, what do I do?

'NO! YOU MISCALCULATED! YOU SHOULD HAVE FEARED ME MORE!'

She snapped, and- she's making lightning! Mai… she's done for- wait, she drew one of her needles. Senbŏn, I think. Should I stop Azula? I can chi-block her right now if I-

No Ty, listen to yourself! If I do that, we'll both be put in jail! And Azula won't show any mercy on either of us.

Oh no, the electricity's in her hands, it's too late!

X X X

How could he do this to me? Locking me in the cell like that, then screwing up his escape plan and almost dying? It's taking me to cover for his stupid mistake. Nice. Now I'm betraying my nation, attacking my Uncle's guards, in plain sight of Azula. For that jerk. Great.

_But you still love him._

No, I don't! Not as much as I used to… At least, not as much as I thought I used to…

_Maybe which is greater? His love, or your fear?_

Fear?

Fear of what?

I see the gondola holding my ex-boyfriend, his friends, and my Uncle reaching the other side, at the same moment as Azula and Ty Lee stepping off. She looks furious.

_Fear of that._

X X X

That traitor. She's just like my brother.

I thought she was my friend.

X X X

As I saw Azula swooping her hand down for the second stroke before the energy shot out from her fingertips towards Mai, I could sense a… some kind of movement, in Mai's aura.

No, not movement- it's a color!

Her hand twisted so fast I could barely see it. Then Mai's hand swept in front of her, and I couldn't see the needle anymore…

The color is red. I know what that color means…

Then I heard a gasp, and I could feel the air move in around me. It's like some kind of… pressure is moving towards me, and away from Azula!

Oh. I see. Azula shot it at me, to hurt me, to show Mai what she was capable of. I always knew she was capable of this. The black, malice: and the yellow, some kind of sick, twisted happiness. I could see it.

I could also see a dingy gray. It's darker than Mai's usually is, but it's not coming from her. What is coming from her is… red.

Red is passion. Love or Anger. Maybe a mixture of both. But either way, Mai's finally letting her emotions show through. Then, for the first time in a long time, Mai's eyes widened.

They haven't done that since…

FLASHBACK

The boy's scream stopped, and the heat stopped as well.

I opened my eyes. He was laying there, while his dad was walking away. I don't understand. What did this mean? Mother and Father told me that this Agni Kai with Zuko was the Fire Lord's way of showing respect.

But… It's so mean…

I looked over at Mai. Her eyes were widened, and shining. I think she's about to cry!

I can see some kind of blue coloring, but it's not on her skin, and it doesn't look like the air turned blue. It just looks like blue light from her eyes. There's something about the color: it's… Making me sad to see it.

I looked over at Azula. She was… She's _smiling_! At her brother's being burned! That's just… that's horrible!

I can see the color again. It's s mixture of… black, and yellow. It's making me feel, well, like I want to hurt someone, but like I want to smile at the same time.

I shuddered, and turned back to Mai. But, she was gone!

END FLASHBACK

I heard a gasp, from Mai and Azula both. I guess this is it: the end for me.

X X X

I will show you…

Why you stay loyal…

To your princess!

Hah. A needle. What's she going to do? Knit at me? She can't even handle that stupid Water Tribe peasant boy, what does sh think she can do to me? I'm perfect in every way!

I charged the lightning. I'll show her.

Out of the corner of my eye, Ty Lee looks worried. Pah. Weakness. I never really liked Ty Lee at all. Or Mai. They're both dispensible.

Mai's hand swished across the space between me and her. I could feel some kind of sharp pressure in my left arm. Right under my shoulder. I feel an energy buildup from there.

Wait a minute, where'd the lightning go? Why do I feel so much pressure! What's happening!

I felt my heart stop.

Oh.

X X X

I'll show you who's afraid!

Let's see how you can shoot me with lightning if I block your chi path! I asked Ty Lee where you would hit a Firebender to disable their bending, just out of curiosity. It turns out that it's a path running from the fingertips to the heart.

I hit the needle right in the spot I needed to. Heh. At least before I die, I can see the look on her face when-

X X X

BOOM!

Zuko, Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, and Chit Sang looked up at the sound of the explosion.

'What was that?' asked- Suki, was it?

I know that sound. It's what happens when the lightning blows up in your face because you couldn't separate the energies.

I felt a part of me rip open. Not physically, it's just that… Something's missing now.

Oh. Azula must've killed Mai.

And it's my fault…

X X X

One second my life is flashing before my eyes (wow, my life is boring), the next I'm sprawled on the ground. I looked up. I can see my aura: Pink, as always. Huh.

Is this what happens when you die?

Wait a minute… There's rubble everywhere.

I pinched myself. I could feel that, I must be still alive, right? I looked around. Something big just happened, I know it. There's a huge hole ion the ground, I think that'd be called a… crater?

I heard groaning. I looked to the left, and saw Mai's aura: still Red. But I don't see any Black, Yellow, or any color anywhere where Azula was.

I swept my hair out of my eyes. It must've fallen out sometime in the past-

I looked at my hands, and they were red. That's weird, I don't… I don't feel cut. Just bloody. Huh.

X X X

What just happened?

I leaned forward. Is Ty Lee okay? Oh good, I see her. Oh BAD, SHE'S BLOODY! AND SHE'S Looking At her hands… curiously… She's not cut, and it only looks like the blood came from one direction-

Azula!

I looked to the right, now facing in front of me. There's a crater. It's curiously red. I got up on one knee, trying to stand up. Out of the corner of my eye, the guards were running up.

…

Why am I covered in blood, too?

Wait, why am I STILL ALIVE! Azula was just about to shoot me, then I threw the senbon needle at her, and she gasped, and…

…

…

…oh…

…

…

…I think I know why there's blood circling out away from the crater. Where Azula was just standing. Before I blocked her bending. While she was charging lighning.

I remember her bragging one day, about her Lightning ability.

She explained in-depth, every single detail her trainers told me. I wasn't paying attention. I probably should have.

She said she needed to separate the energies using her chi paths.

Especially from the heart to the fingertips.

I remember reading that if lightning is interrupted, and not released, it releases itself from inside the Firebender's body.

They explode.

X X X

There's a white light, all around me.

What… where am I?

_You are in a better place now._

Who- What- Where did that voice come from?

'Princess Azula?'

I whirled around, to find myself face-to-face with a certain Fire Nation military official I'd never expected to see again. He still has his sideburns, I see.

"Zhao?"

X X X

I looked up. Mai's covered in blood, too. But…

'Ty Lee?'

I looked up at her. I jumped up, and asked her the question she seemed to already to know.

"Where's-"

'You're covered in her.'

What?

I said my second question out loud. I wish I didn't ask that.

'That's liquid Azula all over you. Her blood. She exploded. Gone. Forever.'

Oh.

The crater. The blood. No Aura. No Azula.

She's dead.

And Mai killed her.

I ran over to her and hugged her. She just stood up to our childhood bully, for the first time in ever. But that was against the law. She could be pubicly executed for this!

She didn't cry.

Mai doesn't cry.

A/N  
>Recap: Mai threw the senbon (sen-bone) at Azula. Because Ty Lee hesitated in her decision to stop Azula. So the lightning was forming already. I thought that I'd add in a little fanon of my own. Now, Azula is gone from this world.<p>

But don't worry. Azula plays a major part in this story. In fact, she even gets a pairing. What dead male teenagers are there in the Avatar World…?  
>If it's confusing, tell me, and I'll edit it and try to make it less so, or explain it through PM. If you're intrigued, go ahead and click that button that says review. But if you want me to do one of my already-existing stories, ignore this and walk away.<br>I will re-edit every story on my profile page EXCEPT for this, Kyoshi Kidnapping, Strength of the World, and The Two Cities. Everything else is expecting a massive overhaul.  
>If I get enough input, I'll hopefully have chapter two up by Sunday. <p>

Next Chapter:

Mai and Ty Lee are confronted by Ozai.  
>Katara is passive-aggressive to Zuko, and says something that hits a nerve.<br>The consequences of this change, good and bad, are revealed.

Azula and Zhao have a little chat.

I hope you've enjoyed The Flightless Phoenix so far. Stay tuned…

End A/N


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